[dmasci]

Also, just because shipping is free does NOT absolve you of the responsibility of shipping the item properly.

You keep saying this....what is it that you need other than a card you bought to arrive undamaged? What difference does it make to you how it's packed or what it's packed in as long as you recieve it undamaged?

If you card arrives and is damaged due to poor packing then I totally agree but if it arrives in perfect condition then how can you say to was shipped inproperly?

[sonnyday]

At the moment I do not recall what the cost of shipping was but it was not free. Also, just because shipping is free does NOT absolve you of the responsibility of shipping the item properly.

But you are buying the card..not the the card and a top loader. As long as the card arrives safely what is the big deal?

[warcraftin]

shipped a Big Ben patch and a Jim Brown GU in penny sleeves taped in between a piece of cardboard and a top loader. I responded to the guy if you are going to ship them inbetween top loaders then get ones that fit so they can be shipped in the top loaders. Fair or foul?

Good for you, unless he specifically stated he ships like that in the auction then he deserved it. Alot of these ebay sellers are just in it to make a buck off of you. So that's what there doing and it is clearly evident in the poor quality of service and shipping. Only way to combat that is to leave the neutral or negative feedback. He can "A" fix his quality issues or "B" lose customers and be flagged for poor quality. If you are selling singles on ebay you are acting as if you are business. So please act business like!

Business 101, presentation and marketing. Your shipping and quality of packaging is just as important as your product. Especially if your looking for new repeat business.

[jkrock20]

Good for you, unless he specifically stated he ships like that in the auction then he deserved it. Alot of these ebay sellers are just in it to make a buck off of you. So that's what there doing and it is clearly evident in the poor quality of service and shipping. Only way to combat that is to leave the neutral or negative feedback. He can "A" fix his quality issues or "B" lose customers and be flagged for poor quality. If you are selling singles on ebay you are acting as if you are business. So please act business like!

Business 101, presentation and marketing. Your shipping and quality of packaging is just as important as your product. Especially if your looking for new repeat business.

Thank you. Yes every business is out to make a buck (that's why they are in business...lol); but, get correct packaging for shipping. I keep hearing if it showed up ok then it's fine. As a seller (business owner or selling as a hobby/side income) you are looking for repeat business not just a bunch of single sales. If your packaging is incorrect for what you are shipping in general you are not going to have repeat customers because they have to worrry about damage because of lack of quality in shipping materials.

As for free shipping that's a marketing tool to drive consumers to your business/sales. it should not be looked as...well they didn't pay anything for shipping so I can ship as cheaply as I like. if you are offering free shipping as a seller you either build the shipping costs into the sale (instead of starting the auction at .99 you start at $2.00 or whatever) or you eat it and possibly take a loss on some .99 auctions because it is driving more business to your sales.

I guess by most of responses here I am in the minority in my line of thinking. I guess I look at things still as a business owner and expect to receive items the same way I would ship them out if the roles were reversed.

[mkufta]

"I guess by most of responses here I am in the minority in my line of thinking."

Not exactly. Like I said, you can notify the seller and tell them you were unhappy with the shipping. You might also go as far as telling them that you'd like to be a repeat customer but from what you see from their packaging methods, you are unsure how many times out of 10 a card will arrive damaged.

That could deter you from buying from them again which they definitely don't want to happen. Leaving a neutral or negative if your card came undamaged is a huge no-no in my opinion. Granted, by leaving that you are stating you probably won't buy from that person again but I would have blocked you immediately.

[jkrock20]

Not exactly. Like I said, you can notify the seller and tell them you were unhappy with the shipping. You might also go as far as telling them that you'd like to be a repeat customer but from what you see from their packaging methods, you are unsure how many times out of 10 a card will arrive damaged.

Yes, I could have contacted the seller stating that; but, what good is that going to do? It would be a waste of my time. I'd get the same response I got from this seller when I left the neutral feedback: "I've had over 500 positive feedback and shipped all my items the same way...". So my only course of action is to left negative/neutral feedback to possibly warn any future buyers of this seller's shipping methods so they can choose with that knowledge if they want to bid on that person's auctions or not. If I had that knowledge to begin with I would not have bid in the first place and I will not bid on that seller's items ever again either so blocking me doesn't bother me at all.

[sonnyday]

Business 101, presentation and marketing. Your shipping and quality of packaging is just as important as your product. Especially if your looking for new repeat business.

First off.... I do ship my cards in top loaders and team baggies. Sure sometimes I dont have the right sized top loader and am forced to stick the card between to regulare sized top loaders. Never had an issue.

I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill to be honest. Its a frickin toploader for gods sake.

C'mon, the card arrives safely who gives a flying f*** how it was packaged. Does the Top Loader make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Its a piece of plastic, half the time they are all yellow and disgusting covered with scotch tape...and half the time the cards are flopping around in them and are put in wrongly with dinged corners and indents on the top of the card.

The card could arrive wrapped in a banana peel for all I care...if the card is as described in the auction. I then use my own NEW toploader to put it in.

[mkufta]

Yes, I could have contacted the seller stating that; but, what good is that going to do? It would be a waste of my time. I'd get the same response I got from this seller when I left the neutral feedback: "I've had over 500 positive feedback and shipped all my items the same way...". So my only course of action is to left negative/neutral feedback to possibly warn any future buyers of this seller's shipping methods so they can choose with that knowledge if they want to bid on that person's auctions or not. If I had that knowledge to begin with I would not have bid in the first place and I will not bid on that seller's items ever again either so blocking me doesn't bother me at all.

Actually, by giving a negative, you may directly impact those sellers and other future buyers. EBay has the ability to limit a person's selling ability if they feel they have too many negatives or if their stars fall under a 4.9. You could have crippled this seller because I doubt you left 5 stars with the neutral. Was getting your card safely, but between toploaders, worth crippling a seller?

Granted, you might not have crippled this one but it becomes a possibility when you start throwing negatives around. I've read posts where people have hundreds of listings and because of less than a handful of buyers out of a thousand, they were limited to 10 listings. Ebay is not a fair place, especially for sellers. I like to keep that in mind before I leave feedback. My own personal policy is, if I didn't really like how the transaction went, I won't leave any feedback. In your case, I might have left none. If the card came damaged, I would have told them about it and made them rectify the situation. If they didn't, or gave me a nasty response, that would have been the only time I would have left negative. And since feedback on eBay is not a two way street, it's meaningless. Meaning, you can no longer check feedback and draw a conclusion on a buyer or seller. Sellers might be held hostage and sellers can't leave negatives for non paying bidders or crappy buyers etc.

The bottom line is, if your card arrives in the same condition you purchased it, anything less than a positive is unacceptable. If you first contacted your buyer, and felt he was rude, didn't take you seriously, or just didn't care, and you were offended by his response, then a neutral might be something to think about. But at the end of the day, you purchased a card and you received said card (I'm assuming) in a timely manner. You're complaining over things that aren't necessary in such a transaction.

[sonnyday]

Actually, by giving a negative, you may directly impact those sellers and other future buyers. EBay has the ability to limit a person's selling ability if they feel they have too many negatives or if their stars fall under a 4.9. You could have crippled this seller because I doubt you left 5 stars with the neutral. Was getting your card safely, but between toploaders, worth crippling a seller?

Granted, you might not have crippled this one but it becomes a possibility when you start throwing negatives around. I've read posts where people have hundreds of listings and because of less than a handful of buyers out of a thousand, they were limited to 10 listings. Ebay is not a fair place, especially for sellers. I like to keep that in mind before I leave feedback. My own personal policy is, if I didn't really like how the transaction went, I won't leave any feedback. In your case, I might have left none. If the card came damaged, I would have told them about it and made them rectify the situation. If they didn't, or gave me a nasty response, that would have been the only time I would have left negative. And since feedback on eBay is not a two way street, it's meaningless. Meaning, you can no longer check feedback and draw a conclusion on a buyer or seller. Sellers might be held hostage and sellers can't leave negatives for non paying bidders or crappy buyers etc.

The bottom line is, if your card arrives in the same condition you purchased it, anything less than a positive is unacceptable. If you first contacted your buyer, and felt he was rude, didn't take you seriously, or just didn't care, and you were offended by his response, then a neutral might be something to think about. But at the end of the day, you purchased a card and you received said card (I'm assuming) in a timely manner. You're complaining over things that aren't necessary in such a transaction.

I like your train of thought.

I had a buyer leave me unwarranted negative feedback. Cost me $90 to have it removed. Would of cost him a plane ticket to Cleveland to fight the case of slander, he wised up and changed it. I still won a judgement of $90 for my court fees earning 5% against some random guy in Illinois. I could sell the judgement for $50 to any collection agency and the thing is going to haunt him until he pays it off.

Be careful when leaving negative feedback. There are a slew of cases of people taking the person that left negative feedback to court for no good reason, and with the complaintant saying the slander cost them loss of business.

[mkufta]

It would be different if eBay handled their feedback better. 1 negative out of 100 means you are satisfying 99% of your customers. To me, that's pretty good. But eBay reads that as extremely bad. Bad enough where they aren't going to allow you do sell. The same can be said for the stars.

I used to ship SAME DAY and would get dinged for shipping time. When I was selling ALL items got put into a blue mailbox the same day it was paid for EACH AND EVERY TIME.

I like your train of thought.

I had a buyer leave me unwarranted negative feedback. Cost me $90 to have it removed. Would of cost him a plane ticket to Cleveland to fight the case of slander, he wised up and changed it. I still won a judgement of $90 for my court fees earning 5% against some random guy in Illinois. I could sell the judgement for $50 to any collection agency and the thing is going to haunt him until he pays it off.

Be careful when leaving negative feedback. There are a slew of cases of people taking the person that left negative feedback to court for no good reason, and with the complaintant saying the slander cost them loss of business.